SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Basketball

San Diego Section Championships

Helix, Santana capture claim CIF hoops titles

By Phillip Brents

Respect? The Helix High School boys and Santana High School girls basketball teams earned it in different ways March 5 during the championship round of this year’s San Diego Section playoffs.

The Highlanders, who were unseeded in this year’s Division I boys playoff field, toppled the fourth-, second- and first-seeded teams en route to claiming this year’s title. The Sultans gave coach Wade Vickery his eighth CIF championship in his 25-year coaching career.

Helix (25-5) received 24 points from Lance Hurdle and 12 points from David Jefferson to deny El Camino (24-7) a third consecutive Division I title with a 58-54 victory. The Highlanders overcame a 16-12 first-quarter deficit with a strong performance in the middle to periods, outscoring the Wildcats 30-18 to take a 42-34 lead into the final quarter.

El Camino’s Marquis Navarre led all scorers in the game with 33 points.

The championship game victory was the 16th in 19 games for Helix, which started the playoffs with a 75-54 victory against Bonita Vista before going on to eliminate fourth-seeded Hilltop (25-3) by a 58-53 score on the strength of 22 points from Hurdle in the quarterfinals and then blasting top-seeded La Costa Canyon (22-7) by a lopsided 72-42 score in the semifinals.

The Highlanders, who out-rebounded the Wildcats 29-25, finished second in the Grossmont South League standings to Division II champion Steele Canyon. Clinton Shelton and Jefferson led Helix with eight rebounds apiece.

Helix tipped off the state regional playoffs with a first-round game against third-seeded Fairfax (25-4) on Tuesday.

Santana, meanwhile, won its first division title since 2002 by defeating third-seeded Valley Center 47-39. Gabby Passentino paced the Sultans with 15 points while Jordan Franey contributed 11 points in the victory. Franey ranked sixth in the section in scoring but it was her role on defense that helped her team to claim the 2005 CIF title.

A strong finish over the final three quarters erased an early 10-8 deficit on the scoreboard for top-seeded Santana, this year’s runner-up in the Grossmont North League standings. The Sultans scored the final eight points of the game after Valley Center (16-14) had rallied to tie the game at 39-39 with just over three minutes to play in the game. Franey sealed with win by making four of five free throws in the final 30 seconds.

The Sultans made up for their mediocre free throw shooting (50 percent) and field goal shooting (32 percent) by out-rebounding their championship opponent 40-32 and forcing 22 Jaguar turnovers as opposed to 15 of their own.

Franey and Passentino each had nine rebounds in the game while Franey added four steals.

Santana entered the state regional playoffs seeded third and hosted a first-round game on Tuesday against Bishop Montgomery from Torrance

East County teams advance in hoops playoffs

By Phillip Brents
Posted Feb. 28, 2005

Steele Canyon and Mt. Miguel both came away with San Diego Section divisional championships in last year’s basketball playoffs. Those two teams positioned themselves to defend those titles by advancing to the semifinal round of this year’s playoffs.

Steele Canyon, which claimed last year’s boys Division III championship, defeated Grossmont 70-33 in last Saturday’s quarterfinals to earn a spot in Wednesday’s semifinal game against University City, with the winner to advance to Friday’s championship game at the University of San Diego.

Mt. Miguel, which topped Ramona to win last year’s girls Division II championship, blasted San Marcos 74-43 in last Friday’s quarterfinals to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal game against Orange Glen, with the winner earning a berth in Friday’s championship game at USD.

Santana, top-seeded in the girls Division III playoff bracket, also earned a spot in this year’s CIF semifinals after defeating Our Lady of Peace 76-38 in last Friday’s quarterfinals. The Sultans advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals against University of San Diego High School, with the winner earning a trip to Saturday’s championship game, also at USD.

El Capitan was looking to make it an all-East County Division II final after dumping Westview 57-20 in last Friday’s quarterfinals. With a victory against Ramona in Tuesday’s semifinals, the Vaqueros could meet Mt. Miguel for this year’s title.

Mt. Miguel, which was led by Jerica Williams’ 24 points in last Friday’s quarterfinal win, entered this year’s playoff tournament seeded first with a 25-1 record. El Capitan, which received 22 points from Lisa Wilkins in its quarterfinal win, entered the playoffs seeded second with a 22-4 record.

The Division II girls championship game tips off March 4 at 8 p.m. at USD’s Jenny Craig Pavilion.

Jordan Franey paced Santana (23-5) with 26 points in its quarterfinal victory while teammate Gabby Passentino added 22 points. The Sultans led 34-19 at halftime and blew open the contest with a 24-8 third-quarter run. The Division III girls title game is scheduled March 5 at 1 p.m. at Jenny Craig Pavilion.

In the boys playoff field, Steele Canyon broke out to a 37-15 halftime lead in its quarterfinal game against the Foothillers (17-11) as George Cunningham (21), Jason Beauchamp (19) and Richie Williams (16) all scored in double digits. Fifth-seeded University City (19-9) eliminated Monte Vista (11-18) with a 50-41 quarterfinal win. Both Grossmont and Monte Vista had advanced to the quarterfinals with first-round victories. Grossmont stopped Orange Glen 61-58 while Monte Vista stunned fourth-seeded Westview 54-52. University City had previously turned back El Cajon Valley 58-54 in another first-round game.

The Division II boys championship game is scheduled March 4 at 6 p.m. at USD.

Helix advanced to Wednesday’s Division I boys semifinals on the strength of last Saturday’s 58-53 quarterfinal win at third-seeded Hilltop. Lance Hurdle led the Highlanders (23-5) with 22 points. Helix bounded out to a 22-14 first quarter lead and held off a resurgent Hilltop squad (25-3) over the next three quarters.

The Highlanders were scheduled to play top-seeded La Costa Canyon (21-6) in Wednesday’s semifinals, with the winner advancing to the championship game on March 5 at 8 p.m. at USD.